Summary: February 16 School Board Meeting
Legislative Update:
· Senate Bill 971 would mandate school districts using a tax collector at a fee, vice districts collecting taxes on their own (Chester County is one of the few counties in the state that has already done away with school districts using tax collectors). If passed, this legislation would force an additional cost estimated to be $75-100,000 on the Great Valley School District. Board President Chambers has sent a letter to Senator Dinniman addressing this issue and its potential burden to GVSD.
· Senate Bill 1089 is also in front of the Pennsylvania State Senate, potentially removing School Board Directors from running in party primaries and requiring them instead to gather 50 valid signatures to run in the General Election.
Strategic Plan discussed:
The Great Valley Strategic Plan was reviewed by Dr. Lonoconus. He characterized it as more of a process-oriented than numerically-oriented document, one of particular use to the Board in the present budgetary discussions.
Further points:
$150,000 is set aside in the present budget to support the Strategic Plan.
The Strategic Plan has a pyramidal goal structure, with Student Results Goals at the top, Process Management Goals under that, and Foundational Goals underlying all.
President Chambers suggested that more emphasis be put on communicating what is being done regarding the Student Results Goals. Dr. Lonoconus assured him that was, in fact, being pursued. He and Dr. Wilt stated that the key will be developing a more “robust” student profile to include quantitative goals.
Toward the point above, a Tetra Data progress report was presented, including the fact that this contracted data collection service is in its earliest phase of implementation. Basic demographic information and PSSA scores on GVSD students have been added, with the next phase to be completed by June. It will then be more query-oriented, allowing for response to a variety of questions by teachers and administrators. It is expected to be a significant tool supporting quantification in various aspects of the Strategic Plan.
For discussion of uses and applications of the above, as well as a budget update by Dr. Lonoconus, please review the meeting in its entirety.
Financial Advisory Committee to begin soon:
It was announced that all eleven community applicants to Dr. Lonoconus' Financial Advisory Committee were accepted and would begin meeting soon.
Board votes against participation in PECO Energy Savings Program:
The Board voted against participating in the PECO Energy Savings program detailed at the previous meeting. The majority of members felt that too many unknowns, particularly as to negative impact on students, existed in a plan that would involve some level of restriction in electrical usage during warm/hot weather months.
As always, please go to www.gvsd.org to view the entire meeting—the above is designed as a summary only and although we attempt to remain objective, your best source is the complete meeting viewed on the web.
